2013 Round-Up
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Six videos made for You Tube |
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27/12/13 - Week 2: Started my third new song with the intention of sketching each one out and then seeing where they go. Lots of decisions to make about style, sound and production, but as ever I'm happy working in a studio on new material.
- Leaf - guide guitar, & vocal - started bass & acoustic guitars
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16/12/13 - Week 1: With Doug having closed the Stables and moved away, I needed a new studio and through the local music network (Lisa) I was introduced to Kevin Jones and his facility down at St Leonards.
Since finishing 'Stories to be told', I'd written three more songs and was keen to start recording again. The working title for the next album is View from a window.
- Ghosts - guide guitar, vocal & drums - started piano & bass
- Tick-tock - guide guitar, vocal & drums - started bass
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Stories to be told - Photo gallery of my guest musicians doing their thing in the studio
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28/10/13 - Stories to be told was released on iTunes and I collected the CD copies from the printer. I've updated the website and given it a makeover and that just leaves the marketing, now that is the tough bit.
18/10/13 - You Tube: In anticipation of finishing the album, I'd been working on two videos (I went to America & You're gone). I've now added the finished songs and given them a final tweak and put them both up on my You Tube page.
18/10/13 - Week 12 - Part 3: All the last little bits and bobs sorted - Doug had put in a shift sorting 'I went to America'. The album is now finished. Next up, sort a release date and crack on with all the marketing stuff!
16/10/13 - Week 12 - Part 2: I did a bit of extra electric guitar on 'I went to America' and another long day of detail work towards the final mixes on all nine songs. It's all coming together and sounding fantastic.
14/10/13 - Week 12 - Part 1: It's final mix time - Doug and I did a long day, doing all the clever stuff to get the best out of the recordings for the finished album.
11/10/13 - Week 11 - Part 3: Did most of the electric guitar parts ('I went to America' still needs some guitar work) and have now nearly completed the recording. Next up it's mixing time.
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All my guest players have now done their thing, leaving me to add the final electric guitar parts and then it's time to get on with the mixing. The performances and input from Bart, Helga, Jayne, John & Lisa have been fantastic and very creative. I can't thank them enough for their generosity and for being such an important part of my new album.
09/10/13 - Week 11 - Part 2: Bart was back in the studio with his kit and did the final three drum tracks and completed his BV work.
07/10/13 - Week 11 - Part 1: Lisa and Jayne did an amazing job on their backing vocals, giving great performances on eight of the nine songs that will feature on the album.
06/10/13 - Video Shoot - With the album rushing towards completion I've been working on several ideas for videos to go up on You Tube. I'd asked my son Matt to help me out and he agreed to take the lead role in my film for the song 'You're gone'. We used the Stables studio for our indoor location and then shot some footage outside at night. Doug Sturrock did the filming and I will be editing up the final film in the next couple of weeks.
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30/09/13 & 2/10/13 - Week 10 - Another double session and chance to finish my vocals and the bass and start work on the electric guitar parts. I'm back in on Sunday to shoot a video for the song 'You're gone' to go on You Tube. Next week I've got Jayne and Lisa coming in to do some BV work and Bart's back in to finish the percussion and add his BVs. That leaves me to complete the electric guitar and then we can get down to mixing.
- I went to America - bass & new vocal
- Fade and disappear - bass
- Stories to be told - bass, electric guitar & vocal
25 & 27/09/13 - Week 9 - I've agreed with Doug to crack on with the recordings and get the album completed, so like last week I did two double sessions in the studio. I started the last two songs and added detail to what I'd already recorded. Next week will be about getting my parts completed and then getting my guest musicians involved to complete their contributions. I'm also looking at making a video for You Tube for the song You're gone.
- I went to America - recorded guitar & vocal
- Fade and disappear - recorded guitar & vocal
- You're gone - new vocal
- Sorry - first mix
16 & 17/09/13 - Week 8 - Another double session, first up it was Helga on flute and the following day, John Oddie layed down some great slide guitar and did a bit of backing vocals. Both players have added some of their own distinctive magic to the songs.
- Wrong place wrong time - flute by Helga & slide guitar by John
- Sorry - slide guitar & backing vocals by John
- Sanity - backing vocals by John
- All of the time - flute by Helga
11 & 13/09/13 - Week 7 - I did two double sessions in the studio this week, working on the detail of what I'd already recorded. Next up it's flute from Helga on Monday and slide and BVs from John on Tuesday.
- Wrong place wrong time - detailing
- News - detailing
- Sorry - detailing
- Sanity - detailing
- You're gone - detailing
04/09/13 - Week 6 - For the first time since I started working with Doug at the Stables Studio, I got another musician in to do some work on my recordings. I have lined up several key players, who I have met whilst playing live on the local open mic scene. These musicians have impressed me with their playing, but more importantly, I feel they can bring some real individual and distinctive quality to the recordings.
First up it was Bart, who is a great percussionist and using his cajon and various other bits of exotic percussion, we recorded drum/percussion tracks for five of the songs. Bart then moved onto the vocal mic for some backing vocal work. A great session and an exciting addition to my material.
- Wrong place wrong time - percussion & backing vocals
- News - percussion
- Sorry - percussion & backing vocals
- Sanity - percussion & backing vocals
- You're gone - percussion
28/08/13 - Week 5 - After our summer break, it was great to get back into the studio with Doug and to crack on with the new album. We started work on two brand new songs, one of which (All of the time) I'd only finished writing the previous night. It's a simple song and was written in response to some comments (from my new open mic night friends) about my chosen subject matters (lyrics) - I wonder if they will approve? Stories to be told, is the first song I've written on the electric guitar for some time, this said the intro is on acoustic guitar and then it needs a tempo change for the electric bit, before dropping down to the original acoustic pace at the end. This will make it quite complex to record, but as it's the album title song, I'll need to make it work. It's my Alice in Wonderland moment.
- All of the time - recorded guitar & vocal
- Stories to be told - recorded guide guitars
June, July & August - Agreed with Doug to take a break from recordings whilst I focused on other stuff.
05/06/13 - Week 4 - Added bass and new vocals. All five of my new songs are now up to the same level of completion (guitar, bass & vocals). Next up, I will be getting my guest musicians to do their bit and I will need to work on some more new material, as I'd like the finished album to be all new songs. The album will be called 'Stories to be told'.
- News - recorded bass & new vocal
- Wrong place wrong time - recorded bass & new vocal
29/05/13 - Week 3 - Last Friday was wet & cold, so fuelled by tea & chocolate I wrote this song. I tried it out at yesterday's Six Bells Open mic night and recorded it today. I now have the basic tracks recorded for five new songs, so it's time to look at the details and the possibility of featuring other musicians on specific tracks.
- You're gone - recorded guitar, bass & vocal
22/05/13 - Week 2 - Started recording two more new songs, laying down the basic guitar & bass parts, along with the vocals.
- Sorry - recorded guitar, bass & vocal
- Sanity - recorded guitar, bass & vocal
15/05/13 - Week 1 - It's good to be back at the Stables Studio working with Doug Sturrock on a new collection of my songs. After watching a lot of players at various local Open mic nights I started writing some new material, featuring more physical and rhythmically driven music. I'm also going to add some more layers than on the previous album, which just featured voice and acoustic guitar.
- Wrong place wrong time - recorded guide guitar & vocal
- News - recorded guide guitar & vocal
11/05/13 - For the last couple of month's I've been focused on doing some live performances, along with working on new material and I had some man-flu which knocked the stuffing out of me for three weeks! I'm now ready to start recording the new material and will be going back into the studio, starting Wednesday 15/5. The last album was 100% me, this time I'm keeping it acoustic, but will hopefully be getting some of the fine players I have met on the local Open mic scene to join me on specific songs.
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26/04/13 - Edited and uploaded a third and final You Tube film of Red Delta Live from 1991.
08/03/13 - Paul video passes 100 hits and I've put up The making of the Paul film.
04/03/13 - Tony Sinnett finished the final edit for the Paul video and I uploaded it to my You Tube page.
27/02/13 - Edited and uploaded a second You Tube film of Red Delta Live from 1991.
26/02/13 - Shooting video all day at Tony Sinnett's studio for song 'Paul' - Now it's down to Tony and the editing. A great day, with two puppets, two puppeteers, three sets and me. I'm really hopeful that it will look superb and in doing will tell the story of the song.
21/02/13 - 25/02/13 - Building background sets and sorting storyboard for next video shoot for song 'Paul' - Tony Sinnett is filming it on Tuesday 26/02.
30/01/13 - 20/02/13 - Rehearsal and six live performances.
05/02/13 - Week 5: rehearsals with Philip for live work. Two songs at tonight's Six Bells Open mic night.
04/02/13 - Delivered background sets to Tony Sinnett for puppet video shoot for song 'Paul' - Tony should be ready to start filming in a couple of weeks.
29/01/13 - Week 4: rehearsals with Philip for live work. Decided to try three songs at tomorrow's Wheatsheaf Inn Open mic night. See Live for gig info.
28/01/13 - Got awesomeantix.com sorted and new web hosts for this website - much quicker downloading.
25/01/13 - Collected the printed back drops from EBC printing department for upcoming video to go with the song 'Paul'.
22/01/13 - Week 3: rehearsals with Philip for live work (watch this space).
16/01/13 - Week 2: rehearsals with Philip for live work (watch this space).
15/01/13 - Altered Perspective album now available on iTunes. Put 'Going down the road feeling bad' video up on my You Tube account.
14/01/13 - Built a bench (see my Twitter account) at Richard Meed's workshop and collected the bottles for upcoming video to go with the song 'Paul'.
10&11/01/13 - Updating website with links to my iTunes and adding functionality for selling CDs directly from the website (not very rock and roll, but a must do job!).
09/01/13 - Started rehearsals for some live work - initially as an acoustic duo with Philip Rackley. Red Delta 3 album now available on iTunes.
08/01/13 - Me and my Martin album officially released and available on iTunes. Collected and assembled CDs.
07/01/13 - Printed artwork for Me and my Martin CDs. Re-mastered 10 songs recorded between 1995 and 2000 for release under the title of Altered Perspective. Shot video on location at night in Eastbourne for Going down the road feeling bad.
02/01/13 - Setup account with EMU Bands to publish my material on iTunes. Found supplier to copy and produce CDs in Stanwell, Middx.
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2013 Diary: 2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012
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